Protect yourself

[Neo_frog]

Here are a few things I’ve come across to protect yourself from identity theft. I thought it would be good info to pass to all. Hopefully you can benefit from this information.

1. Do not sign the back of your credit cards. Instead, put 'PHOTO ID REQUIRED'

2. When you are writing checks to pay on your credit card accounts, DO NOT put the complete account number on the 'For' line. Instead, just put the last four numbers. The credit card company knows the rest of the number, and anyone who might be handling your check as it passes through all the check processing channels won't have access to it.

3. Put your work phone # on your checks instead of your home phone. If you have a PO Box, use that instead of your home address. If you do not have a PO Box, use your work address. Never have your SSN printed on your checks. You can add it if it is necessary. But if you have it printed, anyone can get it.

4. Place the contents of your wallet on a photocopy machine. Do both sides of each license, credit card, etc. You will know what you had in your wallet and all of the account numbers and phone numbers to call and cancel.. Keep the photocopy in a safe place. It’s also a good idea to carry a photocopy of your passport when you travel either here or abroad. We've all heard horror stories about fraud that's committed on us in stealing a name, address, social security number, credit cards, etc..

5. We have been told we should cancel our credit cards immediately. But the key is having the toll free numbers and your card numbers handy so you know whom to call. Keep those where you can find them.

6. File a police report immediately in the jurisdiction where your credit cards, etc., were stolen. This proves to credit providers you were diligent, and this is a first step toward an investigation (if there ever is one).

But here's what is perhaps most important of all:

7. Call the three national credit reporting organizations immediately to place a fraud alert on your name and also call the Social Security fraud line number.

The alert means any company that checks your credit knows your information was stolen, and they have to contact you by phone to authorize new credit.

Now, here are the numbers you always need to contact about your wallet, if it has been stolen:

1.) Equifax: 1-800-525-6285

2.) Experian (formerly TRW): 1-888-397-3742

3.) Trans Union : 1-800-680 7289 1-800-680 7289

4.) Social Security Administration (fraud line): 1-800-269-0271

Also, for those of you looking into LifeLock, these are all the steps taken by that company; a service for which you pay $10 a month, only to have a disclaimer against a defect in their services. Chances are, if your identity is compromised, you will not be reimbursed by them if they’ve done the steps above. (Just an extra note I’ve picked up with research).

[treossi]

i thought this was pretty cool

[slugdub]

Pretty good info. If anyone wants your social, they can easily get it (and your address) ... this just prevents it from landing in their lap.

I don't think I agree with alerting the bureaus and ssn fraud line if you simply lose a credit or debit card. That definitely seems like overkill to me. It will show up on your report like that and I guess I don't know of any negative side effects, but that can't be good.

[Guest Scylloga]

Pretty good info. If anyone wants your social, they can easily get it (and your address) ... this just prevents it from landing in their lap.

I don't think I agree with alerting the bureaus and ssn fraud line if you simply lose a credit or debit card. That definitely seems like overkill to me. It will show up on your report like that and I guess I don't know of any negative side effects, but that can't be good.

once in 20 years no biggie but once every three months creditors get suspect of you.

[Neo_frog]

Pretty good info. If anyone wants your social, they can easily get it (and your address) ... this just prevents it from landing in their lap.

I don't think I agree with alerting the bureaus and ssn fraud line if you simply lose a credit or debit card. That definitely seems like overkill to me. It will show up on your report like that and I guess I don't know of any negative side effects, but that can't be good.

Alerting the bureaus places the fraud alert on the account. Anybody who has had it stolen wishes they had followed these steps. It just requires any new credit to be verified by you. Don't forget, some people carry their social in their wallets.

I'd do it if it happened to me.

[slugdub]

I'm just saying, I've seen it on credit reports and it looks like garbage. I've also seen people use it to try and get out of paying bills.

Not many people actually look at credit reports nowadays, as it is all done by computers and scoring, but it still is overkill for one card. If you had a wallet full of them and DIDN'T do the rest of the things on the list, like photocopy the info, then I could see doing it.

It is really damn easy to call an 800 # and cancel your cards and dispute any charges you didn't authorize. My bank does that for me all the time if a waitress fills in her tip more or something doesn't add up.

[Loudintha509]

this is the shit you should be taught in high school before people find out the hard way.

[Dan208]

Good info.

Here about 5 years ago my wife's purse was stolen when she accidentally left it behind at Subway. Luckily she knew exactly what was in her pocketbook, and within an hour the bank was alerted, credit card cancelled and police report filed.

The next day we got a call from a lawn care guy. He had found our checkbook with all the checks, credit card, my wife's driver's lisence, etc still in it. We never did find her purse, but got back all the important stuff. Joke was on the asshole that took it, because she had less than two dollars cash in there.

I have a feeling I know who took it (don't personally know them, but I remember them sitting just a few tables away). I'd still be able to pick them out from a lineup, because for some reason they just stuck out at me like untrustworthy guys. I'm sure if Subway would have played their security tape back they would have caught them taking it, but they didn't seem like they wanted to help out when we went back there. Things would be different today because I'd demand to talk to a manager, and I'd have the cops come and look at the tape.

But anyway, back on topic.

[moh.vze.com]

It sucks that people on the internet can buy info on you and your SSN for only a couple of bucks.

There was a guy on the internet that bought information on people and would use that to phone hotmail and provide specifics to get the passwords (apparently it worked and I was also a victim of this). The guy was able to contact victims internet service providers to cancel the internet providing the information.

It's terrible how easy it is to buy another person's info.

Never use hotmail. They will hand over your password like giving candy to a baby.

[moh.vze.com]

Here's a good site to check on yourself. It provides 1 free check every 6 months or so:

www.annualcreditreport.com